Reparing the Deity BP TX – Mic Jack Destroyed
Level1 Picked up some Deity gear to try out (replacing our venerable but starter-tier Rode VideoMic Pros, lol).
I somehow snagged the corner of a desk when I was shooting a video and the mic cable snapped the mic jack right off!
It’s threaded. I sort of expected it to have a locking nut like the antenna port (anchoring the jack to the case) but it doesn’t.
It really wasn’t a dramatic amount of force. Note the antenna is anchored only to the case, which is nice. I can see from the teardown that there are also two antennas present (one fully internal) which is pretty cool. Didn’t know that.
It’s a durable-feeling metal case otherwise. Seems to be well built. The battery should be reasonably user replaceable, too.
Well, the jack is destroyed. It’ll have to be replaced entirely.
Replacement Parts
I found and ordered this from Mouser to replace the damaged jack:
https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/393/35rapc__h3_cd-477621.pdf
The exact model # is:
(Pin # 1, 2, 4, 5 are the only pins present and placement on pcb. This might, maybe, be the OEM part? It looks like it might also ship with that nut that would anchor it to the case; we’ll see.)
Teardown
Disassembly was straightforward. T5 bits, I think.
A story in pictures:
The repair - Operation Undo Aspystrength
The repair process went about as well as expected. Because it was so close to the screen I tried to use my hot-air desoldering station but much to my surprise the screen will melt at just 450 degrees F. So now the corner is a bit messed up, but the screen works.
Ultimately I’d recommend manual desoldering with a solder wick and desoldering pump. The replacement jacks worked great.
They did come with a nut! I put the nut on and I can still get about 2-3 turns tightening the threaded mic connector.
It was Super Not Fun to solder, but it is repairable I’d say. I wonder if they make armored or heavier-duty mic jacks in this same footprint.
The “feel” of the replacement jack vs the stock jack feels a bit better, but otherwise the build quality looks comparable and it is a similar design.
Repairability was good but I am going to be more careful. It has a good overall build quality but I can’t help but think the jack is a bit of a weak spot in the design.
We have been happy with the sound quality, though we re-used our old “upgraded” Sennheiser lav mics rather than the deity ones. The Rode videomics were ultimately utter trash. The first set used tiny microjack things that wore out almost immediately. The replacement set was molded plastic and had clicks and hissing after less than a few days’ use.